June 2016 Dear Parents and Guardians Third Form Summer Reading Challenge Please find enclosed a list for some summer reading for our incoming Third Form pupils. Each pupil must read at least one book from this list, and then write a piece of persuasive creative writing in excess of 300 words to convince the English Department that the whole Third Form should study it. If the English Department is convinced by someone’s entry then that novel may well be taught to future Third Form groups. More than one entry per pupil is allowed and all entries will be displayed in the English Department. The most persuasive and the most original entry from each English class will also receive a prize of Amazon vouchers. Stowe rewards are called Merits; all pupils will receive them for their effort which will also be noted by their House. The House that receives the most Merits for this challenge will receive a prize and will be announced in assembly. We hope that the pupils enjoy their reading over the summer. Yours faithfully Lyn Foden Stowe Librarian [email protected] George Purves Third Form Co‐ordinator for English [email protected] Reading for pleasure puts children ahead in the classroom, study finds; Institute of Education (IOE). Reading for 20 minutes a day equates to an average of 1,800,000 words in a school year‐ Nage & Herman (1987) Wonder - R J Palacio*
'My name is August. I won't describe what I
look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's
probably worse.'
Auggie wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old.
He does ordinary things - eating ice cream,
playing on his xbox. He feels ordinary - inside. But
ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away
screaming in playgrounds. Ordinary kids aren't stared at
wherever they go.
Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been
home-schooled by his parents his whole life. Now, for the
first time, he's being sent to a real school - and he's
dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he
convince his new classmates that he's just like them,
underneath it all?
My Name is Mina David Almond
My name is Mina and I love the night. Then
what shall I write? I can't just write that this
happened then this happened then this
happened to boring infinitum. I'll let my journal
grow just like the mind does, just like a tree or a beast
does, just like life does. Why should a book tell a tale in a
dull straight line? David Almond revisits Mina before she
has met Michael, before she has met Skellig.
One – Sarah Crossan
Grace and Tippi are twins - conjoined twins.
And their lives are about to change. No longer
able to afford homeschooling, they must
venture into the world - a world of stares,
sneers and cruelty. Will they find more than that at
school? Can they find real friends? And what about love?
But what neither Grace or Tippi realises is that a heartwrenching decision lies ahead. A decision that could tear
them apart. One that will change their lives even more
than they ever imagined...
Chasing the Dark Sam Hepburn
After Joe’s mum is mysteriously killed by a hitand-run driver, Joe is sent to live with an
unwelcoming aunt in the country. Exploring
the local mansion which was abandoned after a murder,
Joe comes across Yuri and is catapulted into danger as he
ask some seriously evil people some probing questions.
Quick Reads*
Adventure
Troubletwisters: Garth Nix
An action-packed fantasy adventure series
from the authors behind Sabriel, The Keys
to the Kingdom and The Fixers. Jack and
Jaide Shield are determined to discover
more about what it means to be a
troubletwister, but their special powers remain untamed!
Even troubletwisters have to go to school, but the twins
remain vigilant for any sign of the Evil returning to
Portland.
Liar & Spy Rebecca Stead
Georges (the s is silent) has a lot going on.
He's having trouble with some boys at school,
his dad lost his job and so his mum has started
working all the time - and they had to sell
their house and move into an apartment. But
moving into the apartment block does bring one good
thing - Safer, an unusual boy who lives on the top floor.
He runs a spy club, and is determined to teach Georges
everything he knows. Their current case is to spy on the
mysterious Mr X in the apartment above Georges. But as
Georges and Safer go deeper into their Mr X plan, the
lines between games, lies, and reality begin to blur.
The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco
The year is 1327. Franciscans in a wealthy
Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and
Brother William of Baskerville arrives to
investigate. When his delicate mission is
suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre
deaths, Brother William turns detective. He collects
evidence, deciphers secret symbols and coded
manuscripts, and digs into the eerie labyrinth of the abbey
where extraordinary things are happening under the over
of night.
Wolf Brother Michelle Paver
Thousands of years ago the land is one dark
forest. Its people are hunter-gatherers. They
know how to survive in a time of enchantment
and powerful magic. Until an ambitious and
malevolent force conjures a demon: a demon
so evil that it can be contained only in the body of a
ferocious bear that will slay everything it sees, and the
world. Only one boy can stop it - 12 year old Torak, who
has seen his father murdered by the bear.
Middle of Nowhere Geraldine
McCaughrean
When her mother dies from a snake bite,
Comity's life in the Australian outback
changes forever. As her father retreats into
his work, Comity turns to Fred, the
Aboriginal yard boy, who becomes her only friend. But
then a new assistant arrives who delights in playing cruel
games. As Fred becomes his target, events spiral
dangerously out of control.
The Fastest Boy in the World
Elizabeth Laird
Eleven-year-old Solomon loves to run! The
great athletes of the Ethiopian national team
are his heroes and he dreams that one day
he will be a gold-medal-winning athlete like
them, in spite of his ragged shorts and bare feet. When
his grandfather announces that he's going to take Solomon
to Addis Ababa, Solomon cannot believe his ears. A trip
to the capital? It's unfathomable. Solomon's joy is
increased when he realizes that the Ethiopian running
team will be doing a victory parade through the city that
day. Maybe he'll get a glimpse of Haile Gebrselassie or
Derartu Tulu?!
House of Secrets Chris Columbus, Ned
Vizzini
Acclaimed film director, producer and
screenwriter Chris Columbus’ debut novel,
co-written with Ned Vizzini of MTV’s Teen
Wolf fame. Join the protagonists - three siblings - on an
epic journey, to retrieve a dark book of untold power and
uncover the Walker family's secret history. Oh and save
their parents...and maybe even the world.
A Greyhound of a Girl - Roddy Doyle
Scarlet, Mary, Tansey, Emer, heading off on a
car journey. One of them dead, one of them
dying, one of them driving, one of them just
beginning. Meet 12 year old Mary and her
beloved grandmother who is nearing the end of
her life. Letting go is hard - until Granny's long-dead
mammy appears at Mary's door, returning to help her
dying daughter say goodbye.
Science Fiction/Fantasy
Crime
Historical
Life Challenge
Steam Punk
Challenge
Frozen in Time Ali Sparkes
1956 Freddy and Polly are used to helping their
father with his experiments. So they don't mind
being put into cryonic suspension - having their
hearts frozen until their father wakes them up
again. They know it will only be for an hour or two, so
there's nothing to worry about... Present Day Ben and
Rachel have resigned themselves to a long, boring
summer. Then they find a hidden underground vault in the
garden containing two frozen figures, a boy and a girl.
Rooftoppers Katherine Rundell
My mother is still alive, and she is going to
come for me one day. Everyone thinks that
Sophie is an orphan. True, there were no
other recorded female survivors from the
shipwreck which left baby Sophie floating in
the English Channel in a cello case, but Sophie remembers
seeing her mother wave for help.
throughout in this latest novel from one of the finest
writers working today.
Buffalo Soldier – Tanya Landman
Winner of the CILIP Carnegie Medal
2015. "What kind of a girl steals the
clothes from a dead man's back and runs
off to join the army? A desperate one.
That's who." At the end of the American
Civil War, Charley – a young AfricanAmerican slave from the deep south – is ostensibly
freed. But then her adopted mother is raped and
lynched at the hands of a mob and Charley is left alone.
In a terrifyingly lawless land, where the colour of a
person's skin can bring violent death, Charley disguises
herself as a man and joins the army. Soon she's being
sent to the prairies to fight a whole new war against
the "savage Indians". Trapped in a world of injustice and
inequality, it's only when Charley is posted to Apache
territory that she begins to learn what it is to be truly
free.
5th Wave – Rick Yancey
First book in the bestselling series and now
a film. Perfect for fans of The Hunger
Games, Divergent and Maze Runner
After the 1st wave, only darkness remains.
After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And
after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive.
After 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one. NOW
IS THE DAWN OF THE 5TH WAVE
The Hobbit – J R R Tolkein
Bilbo Baggins enjoys a quiet and contented
life, with no desire to travel far from the
comforts of home; then one day the wizard
Gandalf and a band of dwarves arrive
unexpectedly and enlist his services – as a
burglar – on a dangerous expedition to raid
the treasure-hoard of Smaug the dragon. Bilbo’s life is
never to be the same again.
Time Machine – H G Wells
When a Victorian scientist propels himself
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?
into the year 802,701 AD, he is initially
- Philip K Dick
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
delighted to find that suffering has been
World War Terminus had left the Earth
HERE IS A SMALL FACT - YOU ARE
replaced by beauty, contentment and peace.
devastated. Through its ruins, bounty hunter
GOING TO DIE -1939. Nazi Germany.
Entranced at first by the Eloi, an elfin species
Rick Deckard stalked, in search of the
descended from man, he soon realises that this beautiful
renegade replicants who were his prey.
The country is holding its breath. Death
people are simply remnants of a once-great culture now
When
he
wasn't
'retiring' them with his laser weapon,
has never been busier.
weak and childishly afraid of the dark.
he
dreamed
of
owning
a live animal - the ultimate status
Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a
They have every reason to be afraid: in deep tunnels
symbol
in
a
world
all
but
bereft of animal life.
foster family on Himmel Street. Her
beneath their paradise lurks another race descended from
Then
Rick
got
his
chance:
the assignment to kill six
parents have been taken away to a concentration camp.
humanity; the sinister Morlocks. And when the scientist's
Nexus-6
targets,
for
a
huge
reward.
Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of
time machine vanishes, it becomes clear he must search
the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
these tunnels if he is ever to return to his own era.
fall.
Night- Time- Mark Haddon is a murder
.
Moriarty – Anthony Horowitz
mystery novel like no other. The detective,
Life an Exploded Diagram – Mel Peet
Sherlock Holmes is dead.
and narrator, is Christopher Boone.
Clem Ackroyd lives with his parents and
Days after Holmes and his arch-enemy
Christopher is fifteen and has Asperger's
grandmother in a claustrophobic home too
Moriarty fall to their doom at the
Syndrome. He knows a very great deal
small to accommodate their larger-than-life
Reichenbach Falls, Pinkerton agent Frederick
about maths and very little about human
characters in the bleak Norfolk
Chase arrives from New York. The death of
beings.
He
loves
lists, patterns and the truth. He hates the
countryside. Clem's life changes
Moriarty has created a poisonous vacuum
colours
yellow
and
brown and being touched. He has
irrevocably when he meets Frankie, the daughter of a
which has been swiftly filled by a fiendish new criminal
never
gone
further
than the end of the road on his own,
wealthy farmer, and experiences first love, in all its pain
mastermind. Ably assisted by Inspector Athelney Jones, a
but
when
he
finds
a
neighbour's dog murdered he sets out
and glory. The story is told in flashback by Clem when
devoted student of Holmes's methods of investigation and
on
a
terrifying
journey
which will turn his whole world
deduction, Chase must hunt down this shadowy figure, a
he is living and working in New York City as a designer,
upside
down.
man much feared but seldom seen, a man determined to
and moves from the past of his parents and
engulf London in a tide of murder and menace. The game
grandmother to his own teenage years. Not only the
is afoot . . .
threat of explosions, but actual ones as well, feature
Quick Reads*
Adventure
Science Fiction/Fantasy
Crime
Historical
Life Challenge
Steam Punk
Challenge